In peer to peer wireless communications systems in which wireless terminals directly communicate with one another it may be expected that there will be different numbers of wireless communications devices in a local vicinity at different times. It would be beneficial if a peer to peer wireless device could communicate small amounts of information, e.g., discovery information, relatively frequently to other devices which may happen to be in its vicinity. Thus devices in a local vicinity could maintain situational awareness. There is a limited amount of air link resources available to be used for discovery purposes. Resources allocated to discovery take away from the amount of resources that can be allocated for other purposes, e.g. peer to peer traffic signaling.
A rigid peer discovery implementation which is designed to accommodate a large number of users is good for times of high congestion but can be inefficient during times of low congestion where many potential slots may go unused. Alternatively, a rigid peer discovery implementation which is designed to accommodate a small number of users can be good during periods of low congestion, but may be overwhelmed during high congestion times, with users being unable to obtain a slot.
Based on the above discussion, it should be appreciated there is a need for methods and apparatus facilitating flexible use of peer discovery resources.